Space Rats

by Jacqueline Kirk

  TEN

  The first thing that struck them was the noise – music played out from hidden speakers but was almost lost amidst the hubbub of the crowd, the blaring advertisements from brightly lit neon billboards and traders hawking their wares.

  The little band of children stood transfixed inside the lift for a moment in shock but were quickly pushed out with the other people in the lift on their way out. Troy quickly led them along the wall until they were in a quiet spot where they could get their bearings.

  The lane they had came out on to was wide and bustled with people who seemed to know where they were going or at least did a good impression of knowing. Colours from the brightly flashing neon lights washed over the crowds giving the whole place an almost festive look. The advertising billboards were placed up high and overlooked the streets one after the other so there was a bombardment of images wherever you went trying to persuade you to buy all sorts of merchandise from noodles to the latest interstellar cruiser.

  “I never expected it to be so….” Ziggy started but couldn’t seem to find the right word as he gazed about himself in amazement.

  Troy nodded in agreement knowing exactly what his friend was trying to say. Even though Tristan had said they had been here before Troy couldn’t remember anything like this. The sights and sounds were almost overwhelming and looking at Lena he could tell she was thinking the same, right then he was tempted to suggest they just go back to the ship. Only Orla seemed to be unaffected by it all, she simply stood gazing at everything with large curious eyes.

  Taking a deep breath Troy said, “Okay, let’s see where this direction takes us,” he pointed to his right, “Just remember that shop over there with the ramen noodles sign in the window and we should find our way back okay.” They all looked across the street from the lift to the shop Troy had pointed out and nodded.

  They slowly made their way along the street, staying close to the edge and found when they reached the end that it opened up into a square where the crowds were not as dense. They paused again and noted they had just been on Osaka Street and were now in Tokyo Square.

  Out of the smaller streets it was a lot more impressive and they couldn’t help standing in silence simply looking about. Above the Square several feet above the crowd’s heads were two glowing lines that seemed to be some kind of track and small hover cars glided along with some of their occupants leaning out and waving to the people below. These tracks ran around the Square and branched off down several of the larger streets.

  “Let’s move into the middle and get out of the crowd a little and then hopefully we can see a bit more,” Troy suggested.

  Making sure to stay close together they moved away from the walls and made their way to the centre of the square where the crowds were considerably thinned out. Here they could stop and look around at all the billboards, pointing out some of the funnier ones to each other and frowning in puzzlement at some of the weirder ones.

  Above their heads and all along the streets were glowing tracks that allowed small hover cars to travel above the throng of people. The glow of the tracks cast a bluish white glow over everyone below.

  ‘Look,’ Lena said suddenly, ‘I think that could be a map over there. Let’s find out where we are!’

  She took off to the very centre of the square where small individual screens were placed in a circle around the statue of a very serious looking man. Troy looked for a plaque to see who it was supposed to be but there was nothing so he just shrugged and turned his attention to the screen Lena was studying.

  It seemed to be an interactive touch screen giving details, history and ‘Fun Facts’ about the station. Lena ignored most of these as she scrolled through a few screens to finally get a layout of the station. Pressing the screen a few times she got the image to zoom in on where they were standing right at that moment and they all crowded round to get a good look.

  ‘Here’s where we are now,’ she pointed to a place on the map that was highlighted in red and then pressing the screen again it zoomed out a little more. ‘If we go down this street here,’ she pointed to the screen again and then raised her finger to point off to their left where a busy street led off the square, ‘it takes us to this main boulevard that circles this whole square. As long as we stick to it we shouldn’t really get lost.’

  Troy studied the screen for a moment more and then shrugged with a smile. ‘Okay, let’s go,’ he said.

  They made their way over to the street Lena had pointed out and found that sticking to the centre was the best way to keep from being jostled too much while still being able to see the shops even if they had to crane their necks to see over the top of the other shoppers. The shops themselves were as brightly lit as the billboards and some even had their own robots standing out on the street trying to encourage people to enter.

  One such robot suddenly appeared before them and they had no choice but to stop or run into him. He was smaller than a human adult and was shaped in the likeness of a human crossed with a dog, with blue and yellow markings on his metal shell.

  ‘Come and see the wonderful selection of pets we have for you in Varney’s Virtual Pet Store!’ the robot said in a cheerful mechanical voice while waving it’s arms around, ‘For one day only all Felines and Canines are half-price! That’s right folks, half-price!’

  ‘All what?’ Ziggy asked quietly, unable to take his eyes off the gyrating robot.

  ‘Cats and dogs,’ Troy replied just as quietly while trying to see if there was a way around the robot without getting slapped by a flailing arm.

  Before they could think of how to reply the thing was off into the crowd and they could hear its cheery voice advertising the half-price sale to someone else. Looking on either side of the street Troy couldn’t see the virtual pet store the robot was talking about and began to think that perhaps it was lost.

  He was proved right when a red-faced portly man came rushing past them in the direction of the robot’s voice. There followed some shouting and then a clatter as if the robot had fallen over. Abruptly the crowd began to part and the man passed them again with the robot flung over his shoulder. He was apologising to the spectators, explaining it was malfunctioning but perfectly harmless and he was sorry for any inconvenience caused. The robot was still waving its arms and shouting.

  Troy looked at Ziggy who was grinning at the sight of the man carrying the defective machine and he couldn’t help smiling at the absurdity of it himself.

  ‘Wonder if there really is a sale on?’ Lena mused to herself.

  ‘Who cares!’ Troy said, ‘Even at half-price those things are still really expensive!’

  Lena sighed in disappointment and followed the others as they continued on their way. Looking at Orla who was holding her hand she couldn’t help noticing the way the younger girl was chewing her lip, something she did when she was worried.

  ‘What’s wrong, Orla?’ she asked her, ‘Did the robot scare you?’

  Orla nodded, her wide eyes searching the crowds around them. ‘Don’t worry, the man took him away! We won’t see him again!’ Lena reassured her.

  ‘Hey guys!’ she called to Troy and Ziggy who were in front, ‘Do you think we could stop somewhere and get something to eat?’

  Ziggy’s face brightened immediately and Troy nodded. Looking around for any signs they found a small café that sat just off the main boulevard and didn’t seem too busy.

  They found a table by the window and sat down quickly so as not to draw attention to themselves. Troy couldn’t help noticing Lena fussing over Orla as they made themselves comfortable.

  ‘Is she alright?’ he asked, looking at the little girl in concern.

  ‘Oh, she’s fine!’ Lena said with a wave of her hand, ‘The robot gave her a fright, that’s all.’

  Ziggy snorted and said, ‘It gave me a fright! Freaky looking thing, so it was!’

  Orla giggled and Ziggy grinned at her before turning his attention to finding a menu. They all tried to search
without looking as if they were searching but it couldn’t have worked as a woman appeared by their table.

  ‘Can I help you?’ she asked with a polite smile.

  ‘Um,’ Troy said, feeling suddenly foolish, ‘We can’t seem to find the menu.’

  The woman’s smile softened to something more genuine and she quickly pointed out the buttons beside each of them. When pressed a small panel slid back before them and a computer screen unfolded itself with a list of the food available along with a photo of what it looked like.

  ‘Cool!’ Ziggy cried and the woman laughed a little.

  ‘Now, when you’ve decided what to order just press the image of it and it’s automatically ordered. When you’re done just close the screen and it slides back into place. Okay?’ She smiled when they all nodded and left them to it.

  ‘It all looks so great!’ Ziggy said, going through the menu.

  ‘It all looks expensive too!’ Troy said quietly.

  Lena leaned forward a little and said quietly, ‘I think everywhere will be expensive on this station. Tristan gave us enough, don’t worry.’

  Troy felt strangely comforted by her words and relaxed enough to enjoy looking through the menu. Finally they had all decided, Troy had paid for it with the card Tristan had given him and the screens were back down under the panel. Looking around the café he noted that it wasn’t as brightly lit as the other places they had passed, in fact it had an almost old fashioned feel to it, something that seemed oddly out of place amidst all the neon.

  The other customers seemed to be regulars as they spoke quite easily to the staff as if they knew them. Nobody paid them any attention, which Troy was thankful for and he turned his attention out the window to the street beyond it.

  The people going past the window were always hurrying, nobody seemed to be interested in what was around them. Even though it was a working station, Troy assumed that they would also get a lot of visitors coming for the merchandise they could find on these streets. He wasn’t familiar with space stations so he didn’t know if this was considered a good one or not.

  It was while he was pondering this he noticed the two boys standing hidden in the doorway of a closed shop just across from them. They were slightly older than he was but were dressed in what looked like hand me down clothing that was too big for them and also needed a good wash.

  What brought them to Troy’s attention was the fact that they were watching him and his friends but when they noticed Troy watching them back they left the doorway and slipped down the street. Troy frowned slightly then shrugged putting the incident out of his mind when their food came.

  Looking down at his plate he inhaled deeply, savouring the smells and smiling up at his friends. ‘Smells just like June’s cooking,’ he told them.

  The others smiled and began eating, commenting every now and then on how good the food was. Tristan had warned them that the food on these places was all food cubes or made in a replicator but this place obviously believed in cooking the food from scratch and Troy suddenly didn’t care how expensive he thought it was.

  They took their time as they didn’t feel like going back out into the crowd just yet and the woman who had helped them before had grinned when she had come to collect the empty plates and Ziggy told her how great the food was.

  Large bowls of ice cream were next and by the time these were finished Troy wasn’t sure he would be able to get up off his chair. Even Ziggy was struggling at the end.

  ‘I think we need to get up and walk some of this off,’ Lena said, patting her full stomach, ‘but first me and Orla are going to the bathroom.’

  Troy sat forward after they had gone and looked across the street to where the two boys had been standing watching them but the doorway remained empty. Just before Lena and Orla came back the waitress was back at their table with a bag in her hand.

  ‘This is compliments of the chef,’ she said as she handed the bag to them, ‘I told him how much you had liked the food and he insisted on giving these to you. He doesn’t get to cook for many kids so they tend to get spoiled when they come in!’ She said this last quietly as if she was telling them a secret.

  They thanked her and waved to the chef who was standing at the door to the kitchen who grinned and raised a hand in reply. When Lena and Orla came back they got up and left with another wave to the waitress who smiled back.

  ‘What’s in the bag?’ Lena asked when they were outside.

  Troy waited until they were out of sight of the café and then looked inside the bag with Ziggy and Lena leaning in close to look too. There were cookies, gingerbread men and some other little biscuits that had obviously all been handmade and the smells were making their mouths water despite having such full bellies.

  ‘Wow,’ Lena remarked, ‘this guy cooks better than June, maybe we should give him her address!’

  Troy and Ziggy laughed at that and they happily made their way back to Cherry Blossom Boulevard and continued making their way along it. The crowds were still as busy but they took their time, feeling much better after their meal and even stopped at a few shops to browse around but never buying.

  . It was Orla that drew their notice to a small sign for some kind of zoo that was down another of the little side streets. It didn’t take long for them to decide to go and they followed the street until they came to a building that didn’t look like the others. It was dark and only had the name Newton’s Mechanical Zoo in neon on the outside. There was no other sign, no windows to look through and yet there seemed to be a steady stream of people going in and out so they decided to go in too.